Aug. 25.
After nearly three weeks pninor political turmoil the complexion of the Government at! land purposes unchanged. The! Nanking remains, to all intents
two resignations which' prelcipitated what appeared to be a crisis stand. For different reasons their tenderers are still associated. with the administration, Mr. Wang Ching-wei's post jas President of the Executive Yuan is in suspense. Mr. T. V. ISoong, as Vice-President, will answer for him. Yet, if an emergency occurs—whatever that. say mean—Mr. Wang Ching-wei. who has mot surrendered his membership either of the Cen-{tral Political Council—the other members being the absent Mr. Hu Han-min and the temporarily distant General Chiang Kai lshek—or of the Standing Committee of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang, is ready to reassume the full duties lof his office. In the meantime the final settlement of the question whether he will adhere to Ihis resignation is deferred until the Third Plenary Session of the Central Executive Committee. That gathering is due to take place towards the end of next month. It is possible, however, that in the light of recent events, efforts will be made to bring forward the date of assembly. General Chang Hsueh-liang ref-crates his firm intention to relinquish office—to the admire ing applause of Mr. Wang Ching-wel—and go abroad. He is holding military council over affairs in Jehol and the defence lof the North. He has received lorders from General Chiang Kai-[shek to assist the newly-formed Peking Commission for the direction of military affairs.
On the surface this all means that the Government has performed the military evolution directed by the word of command:: "as you were." The difficulty of discovering whether the underlying significance [the resignations and their virtual [suspension differs from the outward manifestations con: the mass of verbiage from the pronouncements of the various actors in the drama. [There have been vigorous denunciation, much self-condemnation, extreme courtesy, beautiful "derangement of epitaphs," dramatic resignations jand less dramatic, but no less important, displays of diffidence from those to whom vacancies in ithe Government have been tenta~ tively offered. The unsop) iticated critic may be pardoned he shrugs a puzzled shoulder land asks to be excused from jdogmatising on such a situation. He may perceive that two, at least, of the chief positions in the Government have been practi-feally unaffected by the recent occurrences. The Generalissimo jat Kuling or Hankow has proceeded in the discharge of his military duties as if nothing was happening. The same, except for formal gestures of resignation and. eventual - withdrawal, applies to the Minister of nance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, In fact, were jit not for his grip on the Central Political Council and the Central Executive Committee, Mr. Wang Ching-wei might be said to have iven full effect to his resignation.
The disturbing feature of this static shuffling arises from the leravity of the internal situation land the possible repercussions lof what is anything but a static condition in the North. When Mr. Wang Ching-wei talks of a readiness to resume his Presidency of the Executive Yuan fin an emergency it seems to the outsider that, the emergency is already knocking at the door. In a few weeks' time the Lytton Report will be presented fo Geneva. On whatever lines that] report runs it surely cannot be beneficial to Chiea that even the semblance of unity within the franks: of the ostensible-Govern-Tment of the country cannot be sy{maintained. Here, in Shanghai, the Government's representatives are being menaced by the renew-led activities of the radical elements which are not deterred by any feelings of national pride from exploiting the _Sino-Japanese crisis for purposes of purely domestic politics. During the uncertainties, arising from Mr. Wang Ching-wei's resignation, the virulence of the lawless boycotters has grown. It has thrown its sinister shadow over such organisations as the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce and the Bar Associ tion. So, while the Foreign Ministry' announces plans for' assisting Japanese merchants to trade. with China, semi-official bodies here and elsewhere are actually taking steps, under the inspiration of unashamed terrousts, to render those pla' Inugatory. Mr, Wang Ching-wei sense of political responsi has been displayed in the copious. contributions made by him to current literature. He probably considers that the prin: which actuated his personal proest are important enough to make their neglect a fatal obstacle to his continued associa tion with the Government. It)bi would seem, however, that the danger of permitting the radical elements to reassume the direction of affairs transcends that consideration. It is. significant that increased attention is being paid to the fascist movement. Looked upon as a manceuvre it might be contended that the development of the crisis has really brought to the fore the Moed for a more strongly centralised control of policy. If this view dominates the 'Third Plenary Session's deliberations next month,' it may take all Mr. Wang Ching-wei's political ad-Jdress to preserve his influence with the Government. And it cannot be overlooked that, in the course of the Inst few' week's arguments, no inch of political [ground seems to have been con geded by General Chiang Kai-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.